Union members were back on the picket line Tuesday after overwhelmingly rejecting their latest contract offer from Manitoba Public Insurance. Now in its 10th week, this is the longest Manitoba Government and General Employees Union (MGEU) strike since the 1990s.
“It’s unfortunate that Manitobans have been put in this situation. It was never our goal to go on strike for nine weeks, our goal was to get a fair deal. If we had our honest way, we would have avoided the strike altogether and just got a fair deal at the start, but unfortunately, it didn’t go that way.” said Kyle Ross, MGEU president.
Ross said he was disappointed in the offer before it went to a vote and was not surprised the union rejected it.
The offer included wage increases of 12.2 per cent over four years, retroactive to 2022, plus an $1,800 signing bonus.
However, for driving instructors like Avtar Sidhu the union’s rejection of the offer was upsetting news.
“Due to this rejection by employees, it’s going to drag on more time for us, and we are suffering. We are suffering, and we want this to be stopped as soon as possible,” he said.
Sidhu said he along with more than 300 self-employed driving instructors are worried about how to make ends meet.
“We’re living on credit lines right now, because when there’s no source of income, eventually all your savings will die off because it’s been over two months now. I’m thinking, maybe, personally, on my side we can probably go for another week or two.” said Neena Bedi, Driving Instructor.
Bedi and Sidhu said they are supportive of the union and were hoping that the strike would be resolved when the new government was sworn in.
The union said they were heading back to the bargaining table Tuesday afternoon and labour studies professor Julia Smith said that is a sign of progress.
“We could have a deal as early as sometime next week, a new deal. Or there’s always the background of binding arbitration — I’d be surprised if it goes that way, because I think both the government and the union have been pretty vocal that they know that the best place to get a deal is at the table.”
Both MPI and the minister responsible were unavailable for an interview with Global News on Tuesday, though MPI said in a statement they are “committed to continuing to work with MGEU to resolve this dispute.”
— with files from Global’s Katherine Dornian